


Weakness

by Ghelik



Series: The 100 Fics [50]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Implied Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-12 04:14:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15331515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghelik/pseuds/Ghelik
Summary: Clarke tells spacekru she left Bellamy behind.The news isn't well received.





	Weakness

**Author's Note:**

> You know those screenshots Jason released a while back of Echo and Clarke looking at each other and crying?   
> This is the scene.

Echo kneels on the floor striking two stones together trying to kindle the fire.

Now that they’ve fled the Eligius Kru and have only the relatively-nonexistent threat of Zeke to worry about, her mind is playing tricks on her again.

Useless worry and memories of the past haunt her, nip at her heels, bring images back from the recesses of her mind back to the forefront. _Weak_ , whispers the voice of her handler in the back of her mind. _I trained you better than this._

And he did. Flogged the her unruly thoughts out and left an efficient spy and excellent fighter – if he dare say so herself – behind. But ever since the Mountain she’s been unfocused, jittery, her plans not as solid or smart as they used to be. She’s made mistakes, acted against her better judgment and ultimately got her King killed.

“Hey,” Raven wanders over from where she was standing with her pilot friend and sits beside her on the floor. “What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing,” her voice comes out clipped and short. With a bit of luck, Raven’ll shrug it off.

Raven does not shrug stuff off.

“Is this about Shaw?”

Echo strikes the two stones again. Sparks leap out, but they don’t kindle the dry grass. She does not growl in frustration.

“No.”

The mechanic’s coarse hand lands on her forearm, dark and strong and beautiful. Echo stills. “Talk to me. What is it.”

“It’s childish and unimportant.” If she repeats it often enough maybe she’ll stop thinking about it.

“I spend a lot of time with Murphy. Childish and unimportant is half the stuff he says.”

Echo chuckles. Yes, on his better days, their dear fox can be quite playful. Despite what she says, Raven loved that part of him and has been pretty distraught at his darkening mood.

“I find myself… Unable to think clearly” she admits, turning her face down to the un-kindled fire. It feels like it’s mocking her. Raven’s hand stays on her forearm and she won’t stop until she tells her. Echo chooses her words carefully. “I dislike not having my whole clan accounted for. I find myself worrying uselessly at things I cannot control. And…” she takes a deep breath. “I find myself trapped inside my head again.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Raven’s frown deepening. “You haven’t had a flashback in months.”

“And yet I can nearly smell the poisoned rain.” Raven’s strong fingers squeeze her arm. “I have grown disgustingly soft on the Ring. I blame you people.”

Raven arches an eyebrow. “Me? Blame Bellamy. He’s the one who’s mothering everyone.” Something in Echo’s expression must give away the turmoil she feels, because the mechanic. “I am sure he’s fine.”

“His sister is mad.”

“Octavia will not do anything to Bellamy. No matter how mad she is.”

“I know.”

“And he’s with Clarke. There’s no way anything can happen to him if Clarke’s with him.”

“And nobody would ever want to hurt Monty or Harper, I know that. I told you. It’s childish fears.”

There’s a pause, and Raven releases her arm to let her try and make fire.

“Are you worried?” Echo frowns.

“About what?” the sparks finally light up the dry grass, she bends over to blow on the shy flames.

“About Bellamy and Clarke?”

“Why would I?”

“Well, you know.”

Echo looks at her without raising, her hands protecting the growing fire from sudden gusts of wind. The cave is drafty. “Not really.”

“You know that Bellamy was in love with Clarke.”

“Bellamy’s still in love with Clarke. That doesn’t mean he loves me any less.” She raises, sitting back and admiring the fire. “If he wants to call things off, then we’ll talk about it. If he wants to pursue Clarke on his own, he’ll tell me. And if he wants to bring her to our bed, well…” she winks at Raven. “You already know about my talents.”

The woman chuckles. “That I know.” Echo feels better already. This is what they used to do on the Ring, when one was feeling the press of sadness threatening to drown them.

“So, why do you hate Zeke so much?” asks Raven after a while.

“I don’t hate your pilot, Rae.” The mechanic’s smile at the nickname looks like one a satisfied cat would don.

“So why do you insist on trying to kill him.”

“I don’t trust him. A person that forsakes their own clan cannot be trusted.”

“You sure you’re not just jealous?”

“I don’t do jealousy,” she answers primly and the mechanic snorts. At that moment Murphy and Emori come back with their catch: three squirrels and two fat hares. Murphy’s backpack is probably full of herbs and they’ll have a feast. The fox has many talents, but the greatest is, without a doubt, his cooking skills.

The smell of seasoned roasted meat fills the cave way before their dinner is made, which means that all five of them are huddled around Murphy, watching intently as the young man turns the spits slowly over the fire.

The pilot sits across from Echo, on the other side of the fire and the farthest he can possibly be of her. His eyes don’t leave the hares. Emori and Echo busy themselves preparing the skins for later use. Conversation is stilted and unsure with the stranger in their midst. Murphy’s openly hostile, then again Murphy has the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Emori’s more curious than anything else, asking increasingly bold questions about his life in the world _before Praimfaya_. She’s inquiring about his _bike_ when Murphy pulls the flesh from the fire and all conversation is abandoned in favor of inhaling their food.

It’s in this silence that they hear the rover: the artificial growl of a powerful beast, the symphonic rattling of metal against metal, the crunch of dirt under heavy feet. Spacekru exhales a happy sigh of relief. This means the rest of their family is finally safe.

The mechanic is the first one to skip out of the cave, a grin already blooming on her face. Trying to maintain a modicum of self-control and decorum, Echo counts to ten before walking with measured steps out. The rover has stopped by the time she’s checked the perimeter to make sure this isn’t an ambush.

Clarke jumps out of the driver’s seat, face grim and eyes shuttered. A moment later the copilot door opens and Madi climbs out with practiced ease. Echo’s heart skips a beat upon seeing the dark smudge on the child’s brow. It is obvious they’ve tried to erase the mark, but the tar used in ascension ceremonies is designed to last a long time.

The spy has to fight the urge to bend a knee to Heda, has to forcefully remind herself she isn’t part of Azgeda, isn’t one of Heda’s subjects anymore. Her fealty lies with Spacekru, half of which is still missing.

She turns her attention back to Clarke, who is hugging Raven fiercely.

“Something’s wrong” whispers Murphy, echoing her thoughts.

Echo knows there are some fundamental truths in the universe: fresh eggs don’t float, a dead man can’t stab you in the back, light travels at 186 000 miles per second, Bellamy and Clarke are a unit.

So, why isn’t he here? Where are Monty and Harper?

“What happened?” asks Raven. “Where are the others?”

Clarke wipes all emotion off her face, her voice chillingly neutral when she says: “They didn’t make it.”

The words feel like a knife to the chest, like someone pulled the rug from under her. She’s suddenly falling, falling, falling through a black void, her heart blocking her throat, blood rushing in her ears, one single word screaming in her mind: _No!_

It takes her a moment to get herself together enough to hear Clarke’s recounting of the events that led Bellamy to the pit at she guides everyone back into the cave.

“What about Monty and Harper?” asks Emori from standing beside Murphy.

“I don’t know.”

“You left them there?” That’s Raven, eyes wide in disbelief.

“I didn’t have a choice.” Wanheda stands between Spacekru and Heda, her hand white-knuckled on the girl’s shoulder. “We had to get out of there or they would’ve put us both in the pit.”

“So you just left them behind,” spits Murphy, righteous anger coming off him in waves.

“I am sorry. But I couldn’t put Madi at risk.”

The girl twists out of her mother’s grasp, with an angry growl. “ _This isn’t my fault!”_ she shouts in trigedasleng. “ _I didn’t want to leave him there! I told you Octavia would kill them!_ ”

“Madi!”

Raven narrows her eyes. “What is she talking about?”

“This is punishment.” Echo has to fight the urge to pull a knife on the blonde’s throat. “Isn’t it, Wanheda?” The child had told, how her birth parents kept her hidden from Flamekepas, how Clarke didn’t want her to become Heda. And yet, here she is: a newly ascended Commander. From what Echo has seen, the skaikru woman isn’t one to easily change her mind. Someone else must have made it happen. “Bellamy went against your wishes, made Madi Heda and you doled out appropriate punishment for the transgression.”

Clarke’s face twists into something ugly and dangerous. Echo knows she shouldn’t anger the Wanheda. It is never wise to anger a spirit, but her heart is breaking and her mind muddled with panic – oh! How soft she’s become in her exile!

“Bellamy wouldn’t put a kid in danger like that,” argues Raven.

“It’s no danger. It’s a privilege,” snaps Echo reflexively.

“It’s a death sentence!” shouts Clarke.

 _Blasphemy_ , whispers a voice in her mind. Echo pushes it down. She tries to push the warring feelings in her chest down, too. She needs to concentrate, needs to think, needs to…

“Why did he do it?” asks Murphy. “You know how protective Bellamy is of kids,” Echo’s entrails twist painfully at those words and she has to fight the urge to rub her despoiled womb, “he wouldn’t just put an AI in her brain without a good reason.”

“Kane told us you two made a deal with Diyoza,” adds Raven.

“Octavia wouldn’t surrender. So we had to take her out.”

“Take out Octavia?” The skepticism in Murphy’s voice is thick as honey.

“Bellamy poisoned her using Monty’s algae.” Murphy shudders at the memory. “Indra was next in line, as her successor, she could accept Diyoza’s terms. But it didn’t work.”

“So he, Indra and Gaia helped me ascend,” grumbles Madi from her corner, arms crossed over her thin chest. “And then Clarke _abandoned_ them.”

“Octavia would’ve killed you! She would never accept someone usurping her throne. I was keeping you safe.”

“And I was protecting our home and you! They would’ve had you fight in the arena.”

“I can handle myself,” growls Clarke through gritted teeth.

“So can I. If we had stayed…”

Echo doesn’t hear the rest of the argument.

All the pieces have fallen into place and the picture they reveal is of Bellamy’s body broken and bloody on the ground, his blood seeping into the earth, his eyes staring unseeingly up to the bunker’s ceiling. A traitor’s death, devoid of passing rites, his soul lost to the Void forever and…

This is not how Bellamy’s light goes off.

“Echo, where are you going?”

“To the bunker.”

“It’s a six-day trek,” argues Emori. “It will be too late by then.”

“I can make it in three. Four at the most.”

“It’ll still be too late, Echo, and you know it.”

“I have to do something.”

“Maybe he’ll win the fight,” says Emori, who has never seen Indra fight and can therefore still hold out hope. “You trained him. He’s the best fighter in our group after you.”

“He won’t beat Indra,” Clarke’s voice is even and logic and Echo hates her. Hates her golden hair, hates her blue eyes and fair skin. Hates the shadow losing her cast over Bellamy. Hates the power she holds, that she can bring down armies with the twitch of a finger. But most of all, hates her betrayal. That she can stand here, having sentenced Bellamy to death, and be fine, when it took her partner three years to start forgiving himself.

Echo shakes Raven’s hand off her shoulder, pushing forward to the cave’s mouth. She needs to go, now. Maybe if she hurries, she can get there in time. There must still be time to save her people, to squirrel Bellamy away, to find Monty and Harper, to…

“Echo, stop!”

“NO!” Her voice reverberates in the bowels of the cave. It is something ugly and unbecoming and it has never been this loud before.

“Damn it, Echo, _think_ ,” Raven’s short fingernails dig into her bare shoulders. “What good is it to anyone that you kill yourself in the desert?”

“I can make it.” Her voice has never been this desperate, this close to breaking.

She cannot think clearly. When she closes her eyes she sees Roan dying in the poisoned rain. Feels the pain of losing her family and friends and clan all at once. She is not going through that again, she won’t allow it.

“And then what? Even if you survive the trek through the desert, even if you don’t get eaten alive by worms or sliced to shreds by sandstorms, and even if you get to the bunker before Bellamy dies, what then? You think Octavia will let him go if you ask her nicely? She’ll throw you in the pit. If Bellamy’s still alive…”

“If he’s still alive, I can take care of Indra.”

“Only one survives the pit,” pipes Madi from her corner.

“After I take care of Gaia and Indra, he can best me in combat.”

Murphy rakes his hands through his hair. “We are not having this conversation.”

Thunder rumbles in the distance and Echo flinches.

It was raining when Roan died.

“You are smarter than this,” that’s Emori coming to stand beside her, her good hand on her back, a kind contrast to Raven’s fierce grip on her other arm. “We don’t know what’s going on in the bunker. For all we know Bellamy’s already dead. Monty and Harper can take care of themselves, they know Octavia, they have friends there. Out here… we don’t. We are outnumbered, outgunned and we need our best fighter.”

It’s so logical. It makes so much sense. She should’ve come to that conclusion herself.

But still, she closes her eyes and sees Luna stabbing Roan, sees him jerking in the poisoned rain, his blood on the stones. Feels the weight of his lifeless body, the coldness of his skin as she dragged him out of the battlefield to perform the burial rites.

“We can’t lose Bellamy.” Her voice is nearly gone, choked up in an agonized gasp. “We can’t lose him.”

Murphy’s suddenly on her, his hug hard and unwelcome, keeping her together, preventing her frayed emotions to drag her out of the present. She takes a deep breath, then another and another.

Letting go of the panic used to be easier – Haiplana Nia would have flogged her if she ever saw her like this - but she manages to do it.

Clarke is looking at the wall when she finally steps away from her family’s embrace.

“So, I am guessing the army is coming after all. We’ll need to get the Wonkru-deserters our of the village and as far away from the battlefield as possible.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was unbetad.  
> As always, thank you so much for reading and commenting!


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